


In Dreams We Fell In Love

by LadyBrooke



Category: Beauty and the Beast (1991), Sleeping Beauty (1959)
Genre: Curse Breaking, Dreams, F/F, Get Together, True Love's Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-06
Updated: 2020-02-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:27:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22590208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyBrooke/pseuds/LadyBrooke
Summary: Belle exchanged her father's freedom in return for helping fix what was wrong in the castle.She hadn't expected to find an entire castle of people asleep.
Relationships: Aurora/Belle (Disney)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 25
Collections: X-Ship - The Crossover Relationship Exchange 2019





	In Dreams We Fell In Love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [theladyscribe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/theladyscribe/gifts).



"Oh!" 

Belle had not expected to find anyone else in this castle after her conversation with the Fairies, especially not a sleeping princess in a tower. The woman in the bed clearly was a princess, with golden hair draped across pillows and a fine gown, and a golden crown on top of her hair. 

But she did not wake, either, even when Belle exclaimed loudly at the sight. Nor did the others in the castle when Belle stumbled across them, servants and nobility sleeping where their last task had been, and the King and Queen on their thrones. 

It was an eerie enough sight that Belle wished she could leave, instead of remaining surrounded by people who would not wake. If the weather outside had been any calmer - but no. She had agreed when the fairies had offered this exchange, her father's freedom in exchange for Belle doing her best to fix what was wrong within the castle. She could not turn back now, even though she wished they had been clearer about what was wrong. But then she remembered what all the books she had read said about the fae - some of them were tricky, others mischievous, and some helpful, but all of them were held by rules they could only work around. Perhaps they had not been able to say more, and this was the best they could do. They had seemed to care, at least, even if they had also seemed somewhat forgetful. 

Instead of continuing that line of thought, she looked at the princess. Aurora, she read at the top of a letter on the bedside table. The Princess Aurora, a name Belle faintly remembered from a book she had read of fairy lore. She bit her lip and thought for a moment of what to do. 

There was a library in the castle. The books there had looked old, and it was unlikely there would be a copy of the same book Belle had read before. But there was a possibility of another book, one that would remind Belle of the one she had read. 

And if she could only remember that, she would possibly have a chance at fixing this. 

Belle turned from the bed with a last glance. She could come back later, once she had some answer. 

Later turned out to be weeks spent mostly in the library, reading through piles of dusty books. Belle still visited Aurora in the meantime, even as she tried to find the answers she looked for. 

The library was overflowing with books of all sorts, records and fairy tales and novels the likes of which Belle had never seen before. If she did not feel the pressing need to free Aurora and the others from the spell, she would gladly have spent her weeks happily absorbed in the books, and had considered begging Aurora’s aid to allow her to remain here afterwards to do so. 

As it was, she was driven to find an answer. There were occasional hints as to where she should look from the fairies, when her latest meal would appear in front of the shelf she should look at next, but she supposed that was all they could do.

It was an intensely lonely feeling to be awake in the castle by herself, even after she adjusted to seeing the sleeping people. Only when she was asleep was she allowed to see and talk to others, and she was never quite sure whether they were dreams or real, even as they were all held under the spell. 

She had discovered that the princess was in fact Aurora. That had been enough to remind her of the book she had read, which had detailed that Aurora could only be awoken by true love's kiss. 

And that seemed impossible.

Belle was the only one awake, and though she dreamed most nights of Aurora in the library with her, on the shores of a lake, laughing as they raced their horses against one another, and of Aurora spinning thread as Belle read beside her, it hardly seemed enough to be true love’s kiss. 

Even if Belle had fallen in love with the Aurora in her dreams, how could a dream become real? The thought haunted her until bed that night, when she curled up on the armchair in Aurora's room. 

"You should kiss me in the morning when you awake," Aurora said in her dreams. The spinning wheel next to her glowed pink and then blue, and Aurora laughed at it. There was a story there, Belle was sure, if this was not just something she was dreaming.

"That would only work if this is the real you," Belle answered instead, picking up another book as Aurora continued to spin. 

Aurora laughed. "You're in an enchanted castle with a court spelled to sleep. Why would I not be real?"

Belle took a breath in her dream and was ready to answer. Instead, she awoke in Aurora’s chair again.

Aurora was right. There was very little she could lose from the attempt. If it didn't work, Belle would have to try something new. If it did - if the Aurora in her dreams was real, she would have her answers. 

Belle stood up and crossed the room. Aurora's eyes were still closed in sleep, as they had been this entire time. 

Belle leaned down and gave Aurora a small kiss, pulling back to watch.

At first, she feared it had not been enough. And then Aurora's eyes began to flutter open, before she fully awoke and smiled, pulling Belle onto the bed with her. 

"I remember you from my dreams," Aurora said, sitting up. "You were in the library most of the time, but sometimes we would be together."

Belle meets her eyes. "I enjoy reading, Your Majesty."

"Oh, don't call me that! I know - my fairy godmothers told me that true love's kiss would awaken me, and while I would like to spend some time with you before anything else, you have certainly earned the use of my name," Aurora said. 

Belle smiled. This was like entering one of her books, and she decided to enjoy it. "Very well, Aurora, though -"

There was a shout from the courtyard and a shout from the staircase.

Belle recognized the one from the courtyard. Her father had found his way back to the castle, after all. 

Aurora looked at the staircase. "My father is coming up the stairs. I suppose we shall have to explain things to him."

Belle nodded. "My father is the one in the courtyard."

Aurora looked out the window and then gave a decisive nod. "We shall wait to explain until he is brought in, than, so that you will not have to explain twice."

Belle laughed as the door flew open and the King entered, followed by a crowd of advisors. 

Aurora grabbed her hand and held it tightly. "Please meet my true love, Father. She has spent much time in our castle's library, freeing us from the curse."

There was more than that to explain, Belle knew, but she thought Aurora had covered the most important part. The King burst out with more questions and her own father rushed up the steps with the Queen, but she could only turn her head and smile at Aurora. 

There would be time enough to dwell on stories, now. 


End file.
